Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis, or RA, is an autoimmune and inflammatory disease, which means that your immune system attacks healthy cells in your body by mistake, causing inflammation (painful swelling) in the affected parts of the body. RA mainly attacks the joints, usually many joints at once. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) causes joint inflammation and pain. It happens when the immune system doesn’t work properly and attacks the lining of the joints, called the synovium. The disease commonly affects the hands, knees or ankles, and usually the same joint on both sides of the body, such as both hands or both knees. But sometimes RA causes problems in other parts of the body as well, such as the eyes, heart and circulatory system and/or the lungs.

What is the main cause of rheumatoid arthritis? 

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune condition, which means it's caused by the immune system attacking healthy body tissue. However, it's not yet known what triggers this. Your immune system normally makes antibodies that attack bacteria and viruses, helping to fight infection.

Symptoms

• Joints pain, tenderness, swelling or stiffness that lasts for six weeks or longer.
• Morning stiffness that lasts for 30 minutes or longer.
• More than one joint is affected.
• Small joints (wrists, certain joints in the hands and feet) are typically affected first.
• The same joints on both sides of the body are affected.

Treatment

• Stop inflammation or reduce it to the lowest possible level (put disease in remission).
• Relieve symptoms.
• Prevent joint and organ damage.
• Improve function and overall well-being.
• Reduce long-term complications.